1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a composite information operating apparatus which comprises a combination of transmitter means, reception signal recording means and copying means and which essentially is a communication imaging system utilizing a copying-recording device. More particularly, the invention relates to a composite information operating apparatus in which a combination of transmitter means and reception signal recording means effects recording and copying of received information, a combination of copying means and transmitter means effects copying and transmission of information, and a combination of reception signal recording means and transmitter means effects copying, transmission and reception of information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the image communication system, combination of transmitter means, receiver means and copying means has never been conceived of, and much less, a system having reception, transmission and copying units integrated into a single apparatus has never existed nor occurred to mind.
Recent years have seen sharply increasing quantities of information and a greater diversity of information, and uniform distribution of such voluminous information over various parts of the world or countries or smaller units of area has become necessary.
Various methods and means of information operation have so far been studied or sought after, but the fact is that no method or means has been discovered which could meet the requirements such as the centralization and speed-up of information operation and appropriate distribution of processed information.
Along with the growing tendency of the information operating apparatus toward its exclusive use as such, a more universal or versatile usage of such system has been brought into re-consideration in connection with the desire to rationalize the office activities by efficient utilization of the system.
Further, the growing quantities of information have greatly increased the energy, materials and cost required to store such information and their simplification and economization is in urgent need.
In the conventional facsimile or other transmission system, the data or information to be transmitted has to be prepared in a predetermined form of transmission sheet, which in turn has to be exactly wrapped around a rotatable transmission drum. This has unavoidably led to the sheet-like formation of transmitted images.
Such a limited form available for transmitted images does not well cope with the present-day situations because nowadays information has so increased both in quantity and variety and because originals for the image transmission are actually often in the form of books or three-dimensional objects. When such three-dimensional objects should be transmitted by the conventional system, use must be made of a picture tube or a flying spot so as to scan the object images in a plane and this has led to an increased size and greater cost of the transmission means, and accordingly to a poor practicability.